There are a variety of conventional circuit board connectors available to electrically connect two circuit boards together. For example, some connectors connect relatively large circuit board modules to even larger backplanes or midplanes. As another example, some connectors connect daughter cards such as miniature circuit boards and multi-chip modules to motherboards.
In some situations, the connectors provide enough mechanical retaining force to hold the two circuit boards reliably together without additional assistance. However, in other situations, the mechanical retaining force may be insufficient to hold the two circuit boards together without such assistance.
One conventional approach to holding two circuit boards together employs additional metallic hardware. For example, some manufacturers supplement connectors by adding standoffs, bolts or screws to hold the two circuit boards in place.
Another conventional approach to holding two circuit boards together employs plastic standoffs which extend between two circuit boards. Such standoffs provides support and improves retention over that provided by circuit board connectors alone.